sleeper



(No Model.) y 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 G. W. SLEEPER.

MACHINE FOR SPLITTING THE UPPBRS FOR SHOES.

No. 320,407. w

)Fiyi s a m Y l INVENTOR GSO,

BY e@ WT.

ATTORNEY (No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2L G. W. SLEEPER- MAGHINE POR SPLITTING THB UPPERS FOR SHOES.

Patented June 16, 1885.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE IV. SLEEPER, Ol VVESTBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO WILLIAM A. REED, OF SAME PLAGE.

MACHINE Foa SPLITTI NG THE UPPERS FOR SHOES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 320,407, dated June 161 1885. Application tiled October 11, 188i. (Xo model.)

To all whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. SLEEPER, of Westborough, in the county of Worcester and State ot' Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Manufacture of Shoes 5 and I do hereby declare that the followingis afull, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to a machine designed to split the uppers ot' shoes in accordance with the general plan of splitting shown in Letters Iatent granted to me on the 25th day of March, 1884, and in Letters Patent granted W. A. Reed, August 19, 1884. In the patent first named the upper is split from the rear portion forward to a point where the opening of the front of the shoe terminates, and the second patent represents a similar form of splitting, except that the knife is inclined to the faces of theleather, so as to give the greater thickness to the lower edge ot' the rear portion on each side. As the leather is split part way between the sides, or from side to side al] the way across, and from the rear to the point specified, when the upper and lower split portions are cut on the curved lines to give proper form to the side, two tiaps are left, one on the upper and right-hand side and the other upon the lower and left-hand side. In forming the shoe out of these uppers it is necessary to shave oi' the iiaps above described and to bevel smoothly on the line where the flap is removed.

The object of my present invention is, first, to split the leather only between those por. tions which form the two sides, and to leave those portions from which the flaps were split in the method described in the said patents unsplit and entire, so that the leather will remain in the parts covered by the naps in said method in its original thickness.

The second object sought in my invention is to split and cut the leather in one operation.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a front view ot' the machine. Fig. 2 shows a like view with the rolls in different position. Fig. 3 shows a top view, partly in section. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the blank. Fig. 5 is a section on line .fc .t of Fig. 2. Fig. (i is a perspective view of the rollers with the knife in position. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of an upper which is split through only a por tion of the width ot' the leather, leaving the edges of full thickness.

Before describing the machine and mode of splitting I will explain, in reference to the blank andthe shoe-upper made therefrom, (not herein claimed,) that the two forms shown in Figs. 4 and 7 involve the same principle. 'In Fig. 4 the part lying in rear ot' the line .fr y 6@ w is split and the` part lying in front is wholly unsplit. In Fig. 7 the part lying within the lines s t s is split and the remainder is wholly unsplit. The split portions forni in the tirst case, Fig. 4, the counter, and the unsplit por. tions the front and sides ofthe shoe. In Fig.

7 the unsplit portions extend around the bottom of the counter, leaving the split in the upper parts. The mode of splitting, therefore, which is herein involved, as an improve- 7o ment on the aforesaid patents, consists, essen ti all y, in tapering the split portion of the blank `from a point where the substantially parallel sides (.r w in Fig. 4 and s o in Fig. 7) terminates to a point on the central longitudinal line et the blank, or the front termination of the opening of the shoe, whereby the remainder of the blank about the edge is left of its original thickness, either all or part of the way around the shoe, accordingly as torm Fig. 4 or 8O Fig. 7 is used.

In the drawings, A A represent the, end pieces ot' the frame of the machine. The rollers B B are mounted in movable bearings C, each pair of which is pressed toward the other by springs and set-screws, the screws being shown at d, and the springs being interposed between the ends of the screws and the bearings, so that the rollers are pressed toward each other. I prefer, as shown in the 9o drawings, to reverse the position of the setscrews and springs, placing them diagonally opposite, one above and the other below. This gives more stability to the other and brings the centers true. The belts are provided with flanges c c, which tit accurately above and below over the contiguous parts of the end pieces, whereby the bearin g-blocks are guided so that the alignment ot' the. rolls is preserved,

less distance or pressed closely together when theleatheris removed. rIhekniieEis mounted whether separated by theleather to a greateror 10o however, in reverse position on the rollers, so

that one bears on the edge of the knife on one side at one end, and the other bears upon the other side of the knife at the other end, and both, pressing on opposite sides of the pivot, tend in the same direction to turn the knife against the tension of the-springs. The high part of the cam is a trifle higher than the periphery of the rolls, and the lower part of the cams is made to correspond with out-away portions of the rolls shown at H H. It will oe understood that the rolls turn inward toward each other, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1, and at the beginning of the operation of splitting an upper the edge of the knife rests against the higher partof the cams. The lower part of the cams and cut-away portions of the rolls then next to the knife, one on one side and one on the other, must travel outward and over in order to come in contact with the leather at the proper moment as Vit moves inward. It will be observed that the larger part of the rolls is cylindrical, and while the leather is moving over the cylindrical surface the edge of the knife is maintained by the high part of the cams in a plane nearly but not quite parallel with the surface ofi the rollers. The leather, therefore, is drawn in, being placed with its rear end foremost, and is split with a slightly-inclined split 'until the point .fr m of the leather reaches the knife, and at that Htime the points-x on the rolls reach the edge of the knife, one

at one end and one at the other, the knife still riding on the high part of the cams. It must now be observed that the cut-away portions of the rolls correspond to the shape of the cut x g/of the upper, and along this line the roll is cut down with nearly a perpendicular shoulder to a slight distance, and then is 1 tapered down withthe gradual winding curve,

as represented in the drawings. Therefore, as the rolls pass on beyond this point, this cutaway edge on the line fr y of each roll is brought snugly against the edge of the knife, which is allowed to tip more and more, by reason of the knife now riding on a constantlydiminishing part of the cam. This construction causes the knife on each end, when it strikes the point fr of the rollers, to cut out the leather from that point, and to follow this y cut along the lines y of the rolls; but as the rolls turn inward the points y y', being near the middle of the roll upon which they are placed, approach each other. Therefore the split portion grows narrower until it terminates at a point at the lower part of the front opening of the shoe, and at that point the machine stops, and has to be turned backward to receive a new blank. I connect the knife to the standard by set-screws ff, which pass through slots in the knife E. The pivoted base plate G is also provided with adjustingscrews p', which pass through it into grooves in the bottom plate on which the plate G turns. These serve to raise the whole bed-plate and contents after the knife has been adjusted.

The rolls are connected by suitable gears as follows: A gear, o, on the shaft M (to which power is applied by a crank, as indicated) meshes with the gear m on the shaft of the roll B. On the other end of the shaft of M is the gear n, which, through an intermediate gear,

the roll B. By these gears the rolls are turned simultaneously and their opposing faces caused to move in the same direction. I have not considered it necessary to show mechanism for driving these gears beyond a simple crank to indicate where the power is to be applied, nor means for reversing the mechanism when it reaches the end of the work, as described, automatic mechanism for this purpose being well. known to those skilled in the art. i Any suitable automatic registering mechanism 5 may also be used with the machine to register i the number of uppers cut.

It will be understood that the cut-away portion of the rolls need not be of the precise shape described, but may be varied according to the form of upper to be cut, as set forth in the aforesaid patents to myself and Reed. For instance, in Fig.- 7 I represent an upper split through only a portion Vof the'width'of the leather, leaving the elges which form the bottom of the counters of full thickness, and it will be obvious that a very simple change in l the rolls would produce this effect. l l do not limit myself in this respect, nor in respect to the means for supporting and movl ing the knife, as these may be varied indefinitely.

I do not herein claim the described blank 1 or upperjcut by the machine in the manner l described, as this constitutes the subject-matx ter of a separate application.

I claiml 1. The mode of forming a shoe-upper out of t a blank of substantially the form described, the said mode consisting in splitting the E leather of the blank a part ofthe distance from y the rear of the blank toward the front, said portion so split being of .substantially equal Width, and then tapering the split portions to i a point on the central longitudinal line of the blank, whereby lateral Yunsplit portions ofthe leather are left7 all substantially as set forth.

2. A machine for splitting uppers in accordance with the described plan, consisting of a pair of rollers having cylindrical portions and cut-away portions, said cut-away portions havi ing the inclined sides terminating at or near the central line, and a knife arranged in the q, is connected to a gear, p, on the shaft of IOO IIO

described relation to the rollers-and to the infor turning and varying the position of its 1o clined sides of the cut-away portions thereof, edge, for the purpose set forth. substantially as described. In testimony whereof I have signed my name 3. Amachinet'or splitting uppcrs,consisting to this specification in the presence of two 5 of a pair of rollers having cylindrical portions subscribing` Witnesses.

andcut-aw` portions, said cnt-away portions GEORGE W. SLEEPER. having the inclined sides terminating at or Witnesses:

near the central line, in combination with a WILLIAM SLEEPER,

knife and means, substantially as described, WILLIAM A. REED. 

